Yeshe Schepers

Yeshe Schepers

Yeshe Schepersis 23 years old. She recently got her honours in psychology at UCT where her research focus was on gender and sexuality. She will be doing counseling work with young people in 2013 and hopes to continue her studies at masters level some day. She took a course on the gender of psychology in her honours year and since then has become more aware and passionate about issues related to gender, masculinity and femininity. She has always been hesitant to call herself a feminist because of the backlash and old notion that feminists are man haters and somehow want to undermine men. However, she has come to understand feminism to be about gender equality which includes the empowerment of both women and men. If feminism was called “genderism” she thinks people would be more inclined to take on board some of the ideas and criticisms that feminists put forth. She is not an academic and feels there is a need for academic thought to be translated into practical activism. She has a ‘zero tolerance’ policy which means that she feels it her my duty and right to speak out against any form of gender inequality.